Rainbow Power Company Ltd (RPC) is a public company, incorporated in 1987 to design, manufacture, sell and install renewable energy equipment. The company was founded for community and environmental benefits, and is structured very similarly to a worker's co-operative in respect to employee participation.

RPC is a licensed electrical contractor in New South Wales and Queensland and services Northern NSW and South East QLD.

RPC staff are accredited by the Clean Energy Council of Australia for design and installations of grid-connected and off-grid energy systems. They also bring over a hundred years of combined technical experience, management skills and best practice standards to the solar power industry.

To trade in only high quality, user friendly, efficient, cost effective products, supported by reliable up-to-date advice and after sales service.

To educate the general public in aspects of using energy from renewable sources, and living and developing in a sustainable way.

To aid developing countries of the world in improving their living standards by educating and trading with them in renewable energy products.

The Company's headquarters are powered by a 16 kW grid interactive solar system with battery backup. The 700 sq metre building features passive solar design, composting toilets, a solar hot water system, organic insulation (wool, mud bricks) and many other energy efficient solutions. Most members of staff also have a renewable energy system at home. Some are completely off-grid, combining solar and hydro for their energy needs; others live closer to town and feed excess electricity to the grid.

Rainbow Power Company Solar Reviews

Most Recent

Top Rated

Low Rated

1 Year Follow Up

We follow up with all reviewers after 12 months to see how their system is going since it was installed. These are all the reviewers who have responded to our 1 year follow up:

Dave

27 December 2018

Most of the installers on North coast are cowboys. Rainbow power company have been in business over 30 years.Show additional information

Customer Rating

Value

4

System Quality

5

Customer Service

5

Installation

5

Customer Location

State

NSW

Post Quote Information

Reason for purchase

Best Quality SystemBest Service

Solar System size

Cost

$6000 to $10000

4.75

Kevin

16 October 2018

This was the 7th company to supply me with a quote, wish I had gone to them first,
not the cheapest, but they use quality products, happy with the cost, and they do not do the hard sell
Signed the contract on the 19/09/2018 and the system was installed on the 28/09/2018 in 2 days, 20 panels, great job, no mess left,
The follow up from this company is amazing, they put customers first,
(must be the reason they have been in business for 31 years) another reason we chose them,
Would recommend Rainbow Power Co highly, easy to do business with them.Show additional information

Customer Rating

Value

4

System Quality

5

Customer Service

5

Installation

5

Customer Location

State

NSW

Post Quote Information

Reason for purchase

Solar System size

Cost

$6000 to $10000

4.75

Phil

18 August 2018

While all 3 retailers from your website contacted me, only one was seriously interested in my preference for Enphase micro inverters. Two tried to talk me into one of
their standard string sytems or DC optimisers. The third seemed very keen at first, but then simply stopped communicating half way through technical discussion, and
never sent me final proposal.
Fabien at Rainbow maintained great contact through our discussion of options, and was enthusiastic about the microinverter option.Show additional information

Customer Rating

Value

4

System Quality

5

Customer Service

5

Installation

N/A

Customer Location

State

NSW

Post Quote Information

Reason for purchase

Best Quality SystemBest Service

Solar System size

Cost

$10,000 to $15,000

4.67

Adam

01 July 2018

Rainbow Power Co. are extremely helpful and friendly. I highly recommend them for any solar install no matter how large or small. Without the help and patience of these guys we would still be in the dark - or at least on a petrol generator...thanks guys!Show additional information

Customer Rating

Value

5

System Quality

5

Customer Service

5

Installation

5

Customer Location

State

NSW

Post Quote Information

Reason for purchase

Best Quality SystemBest Salesperson

Solar System size

Cost

$6000 to $10000

5.00

Peter

01 May 2018

If you want accurate advice and be listened to, Rainbow Power Company is the place for you. We received an immediate response to our enquiry which included three possible alternatives. Once we made our decision the job was completed in a very short time. Unfortunately there was a manufacturing fault with our inverter on installation but it was replaced almost immediately without argument. The installers completed the job in a day and when they left there was no sign they had been here. Now I get great joy checking the output on my phone. I would have no reservation in recommending Rainbow Power Company.Show additional information

Customer Rating

Customer Location

State

NSW

Post Quote Information

Reason for purchase

Best Quality SystemBest SalespersonBest Service

Solar System size

Cost

$6000 to $10000

5.00

Genny

24 March 2017

A relief not to be sales talked into anything, to be given an honest appraisal of my needs and consequently what I was to buy. A relief to find business honesty and integrity still exists in Australia.Show additional information

Customer Rating

Value

5

System Quality

5

Customer Service

5

Installation

5

Customer Location

State

NSW

Post Quote Information

Reason for purchase

Best PriceBest Quality SystemBest SalespersonBest Service

Solar System size

Cost

$3000 to $6000

5.00

Paul

25 January 2017

SAE's quote was actually $600 less, different panel brand but equally rated though not around for so long, micro inverters and control system the same. Waited for over two weeks for full response and quote from SAE. Rainbow Power had one of their technicians visit my premises two days after my initial phone call, and a quote prepared after careful discussion of my power usage and needs a day later. Sales person was knowledgeable and there was no sales pressure. Rainbow's installers were super efficient and pleasant and the whole job was completed in one day. There was initially some question as to whether Essential Energy would approve the installation owing to an extra long connection from their street supply to my mountain premises, Rainbow Power negotiated this for us successfully.
In my experience Rainbow Power has done an excellent job for us and we are already reaping the benefits.Show additional information

Customer Rating

Value

4

System Quality

4

Customer Service

5

Installation

5

Customer Location

State

NSW

Post Quote Information

Reason for purchase

Best Quality SystemBest Service

Solar System size

Cost

$3000 to $6000

Panel Brand

Trina

Panel Rating

Inverter Brand

Enphase

Inverter Rating

One Year Follow Up Review

Absolutely. The system has exceeded our expectations and we are delighted with the drop in power bills. If I had some spare cash tomorrow I'd be keen to install battery storage and go off the grid altogether. And of course if battery prices drop, while maintaining reliability, Then I could see that becoming a worthwhile investment for our household.

Customer Rating

Value

4

System Quality

4

Customer Service

5

Installation

5

4.50

Graeme

23 September 2016

Professional job, nice tidy work using quality equipment. They are not cheap, but you get what you pay for and with RPC you get a well-designed, neat system with good backup and after-sales service. I suspect the person complaining about his system being under-sized either didn't listen to advice and tried to go cheap, or seriously under-estimated electricity usage (most likely both).Show additional information

Customer Rating

Value

4

System Quality

5

Customer Service

5

Installation

5

Customer Location

State

NSW

Post Quote Information

Reason for purchase

Solar System size

Cost

more than $20,000

4.75

Esme and Adrian

20 March 2016

We have been delighted with the whole process and so glad to renew our association with Rainbow Power Company, which provided our initial solar system in 2003. This performed faultlessly for all those years and was still going strong. Its various components will now go to other homes and continue to provide power to good people. Our compliments to Sean and Ben who both impressed us with their efficiency, competence and wonderful personalities. It has been a rich experience. Thank you.Show additional information

Customer Rating

Value

N/A

System Quality

4

Customer Service

5

Installation

5

Customer Location

State

QLD

Post Quote Information

Reason for purchase

Solar System size

Cost

more than $20,000

4.67

Penny and Denis

02 March 2016

Recently, we had an extensive Solar System installed large enough to take air conditioning in the future.

Tully was the first person we spoke to on the phone. He was amazing. Tully was so thorough, firstly finding out what our needs were today and in the future. Then he systematically went through what we already have over the phone, then he made an inspection of our current sad system and talked it all through with us so we understood totally. The next day, Tully had a detailed costing and very detailed explanations as to what it was all about. At the very end when it was all installed and working wonderfully, Tully again checked up on us and our readings to make sure all was good.

Sean and Ben were incredible. They arrived at our home all ready to go and got stuck into installing everything. They clearly had a wealth of knowledge and did such an amazing job. Sean and Ben were so thorough in explaining to us all our questions we had for areas we did not understand. They worked so hard and it was very hot, which they didn't seem to even notice. Their work was so neat and stylish it all looked so fantastic.

Terry was so extraordinarily helpful. At a moment's notice and on his day off he popped up to our home to help us out with a few bits and pieces which was us being new owners, and cautious new owners wanting to do everything right. Terry checked all systems and was able to explain to us what was happening and replaced a bit of our old equipment that definitely needed replacing but we had previously thought it was ok (being so old it was not).

Dave was so polite and professional when he came to inspect the installation.

Thank you to everyone we are very excited with our new system.

Thank you to Tully for making it happen and making it such an easy process. Also showing us the virtue of a new fridge to replace our old sad esky fridge. We are very grateful.

Customer Rating

Customer Location

State

NSW

Post Quote Information

Reason for purchase

Best Quality SystemBest SalespersonBest Service

Solar System size

Cost

$15,000 to $20,000

5.00

Christopher

11 June 2014

Just appalling

Our experience with Rainbow Power Company has left us out of pocket and deeply disappointed with their competence, ethics and customer service. Because we bought a system from Rainbow Power Company, six years later we have had to buy another system to replace Rainbow's, except this time, one that works properly.

We were lucky enough to install our stand alone system at a time when there were federal government grants for properties with no access to grid power. We selected Rainbow based upon the fact that they had been around for years and had, we thought, a good reputation. However, we now suspect that due to a government grant being involved, Rainbow's prices were massively inflated.

Installation went smoothly enough and we thought that it had all gone according to plan. Within a few months I noticed that the regulator was giving odd readings. After several attempts to convince Rainbow that there was actually something odd going on they requested I send them photos of the inside of the distribution box behind the regulator. It was soon clear that during installation several shunts were incorrectly wired meaning that charge from the panels was not reaching the batteries and that some of what was, was not being registered. Rather than come out to fix that themselves, they gave me some instructions over the phone of what to do and left me to do it myself.

Though we have a quite small system (1.1kW) we were under the impression that it had been properly spec'ed out and designed to accommodate our power needs. Well, we were completely wrong. While the batteries were quite adequate for our needs the panels were inadequate to charge the batteries, especially during the winter months. Within 5 years our batteries were severely compromised and were unable to hold a full charge no matter how much we tried to charge them, limiting our available power more and more. When we engaged a local solar guy to try and figure out what to do with our system he called Rainbow to ask about the 'weird' arrangement of the shunts. The fine gentleman he spoke to, the owner of Rainbow, was at first defensive, then abusive and then hung up. So, their after sales service leaves much to be desired.

So, 6 years later we have had to spend virtually the same amount again as we originally spent getting Rainbow's system installed. Our new installers have confirmed that Rainbow's system was never able to adequately charge the battery bank and that the entire system was poorly designed. We have had to replace our battery bank and have had 2.5kW of additional panels installed.

So if you buy a system from Rainbow, just make sure you have the available funds to buy two systems ; another system from someone else, a system that actually works.